Ezekiel’s Vision. Woodcut 1860
Julius Schnorr
c593 BCE EZEKIEL Hebrew prophet of the ‘Old Testament’ born of priestly lineage and resident of Nippur, Sumer where the god Enlil reigns. As author of the ‘Book of Ezekiel’, he records 6 visions which he experienced during the Hebrew exile in Babylon from c593 to571 BCE, the most famous being of the Throne of God surrounded by 4 angel spirits symbolised by the 4 creatures of the fixed zodiac signs. This vision has become known as that of the ‘Divine Chariot’ or the Merkabah. It should be noted that the depiction of these winged creators has a great similarity to the winged gods of the Babylonian peoples. There may also be Hindu influence as Brahma is represented as a king with 4 heads of a similar nature. The winged heads of Ezekiel are that of a Bull, a Lion, an Eagle and a Human, conforming to the symbols of the 4 fixed signs of the zodiac, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, one for each of the alchemical elements.
The Book of Ezekiel was probably first commenced in his 30th year in c652 BCE, its mystical and apocalyptic themes are believed to have influenced the development of the Second Temple built by the Hebrews on their return to Palestine from exile in Babylon.
The oft quoted Bible reference, Ezekiel:4:6 says 'I have appointed thee each day
for a year'. and astrologers use this as a measurement for prediction by the stars.[59]
c590 THALES (b.c. 640-546 BCE) (RC) Born at Miletus, Greece. Thales studied with the Egyptians and Babylonians and was founder of the Ionic School of philosophy in Greece. He taught that the original element or the primary source of life was water; that one divine essence is diffused throughout all being; that the universe is a living creature; that nothing is dead; even stones have souls; and that all things are full of God. He is said to have predicted the solar eclipse of 585 BCE.
Thales marks the transition from Homeric mythology to Classical Greek Philosophy. In the future he will be known as the first philosopher although the term philosopher will not be coined until the time of Pythagoras (525 BCE). None of Thales writings are to survive in their original form and his work will be known through the writings of the future philosopher Aristotle (354 BCE).
THE IONIC SCHOOL: The philosophical school of Ionia is based at the city of Miletus on the coast of Asia Minor. This school brought a new way of understanding the world in its desire for system and clarity as against the vaguer concepts of mythology. This school of thought is initiated by the philosophers Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. Their philosophy is based on the assumption that an underlying rational unity and order exists within the flux and variety of the world, a theory that was held by the ancient Egyptians. However, in spite of this holistic view, traditional mythology now became more impersonal and based on conceptual explanations arising out of observation of natural phenomena and reasoning, rather than traditional storytelling. Through this process, human intellectual rationalism came to dominate over the psychic life, even though maintaining some of the concepts brought over from previous ages, such as the belief that the world was one thing and had an original source which had become the manifest many. (19)
586 BCE After standing for approximately 400 years, Solomon’s Temple of Jerusalem, housing the tablets of Moses, is destroyed and its people exiled to Babylon. Some will return to Jerusalem in 538 BCE to build a second temple which will be dedicated in 558 BCE. This temple will be embellished by the future King Herod the Great, and others ,until the time of its own destruction in 70 CE. [226] Another cycle of approximately 400 years.
Plan of Solomon’s Temple
